Tired of life

We left Berlin and started off on the way to Poznan in Poland. This was an occassion since Poland will be the first time both of us have been to a place neither of us have been to before, if you follow. We had a day in Poznan which we spent walking around the old town. We did the whole place in 3 hours, not rushing but its just not that big. And not really that interesting, in other words not worth writing home about. The only thing of note was a restaurant called "Pierrogeria" which is basically a pasty house and something that I think would do well in Australia. They had all types of pasties and it was really cheap too. So, Poznan done. Next we drove to Gdansk on the north coast and I have now found a contender for drivers worse than those in Adelaide. They really seem to want to die. The road is only two lanes but somehow Polish drivers seem to think you can fit three cars into two lanes. All it requires is the car you are overtaking to move onto the shoulder, and the car coming the other way to move onto the shoulder too, without slowing down of course. This is all done at 100+km/h. Of course, if you are coming the other way, you dont necessarily have to move over, as its your piece of road, but the alternative is to die. It doesnt matter if the road is approaching a bend, or rise either. The overtaking philosophy is "if I pull out and there isnt a car immediately on the other side of the road, then its ok to overtake". We havent seen an accident yet, but a few times its been close. Apparently, cyclists are hit quite often riding in the "bicycle lane" which is Polish driver's code for "extra overtaking lane". There was even a sign that could be perceived to be humourous, of a car hitting a pedestrian and the pedestrian is flying through the air. It was funny until I went around a bend and saw a pedestrian walking on the road, which is a fairly main highway (for Polish standards anyway) and then realised that the sign was there for a reason.
So, we arrived in Gdansk, found the hostel and were greated with a glass of wine. Cheers! The hostel deserves a little note here, It was called the "Lucky Hostel". It seemed to be a house that is slowly being converted to a hostel, and there were locals there who carried on "conversations", regardless of there proxiity in the house. One could be on the ground floor, one on the third floor, you just talk a little louder. It was interesting to behold. It also had the coolest shower ever. It was lit with a funky blue light, played music and the water came like rain from above. Gdansk itself wasnt too bad. This was were the cracks first appeared in the communist stranglehold. At the shipyards, they held a strike which turned into a riot and 44 people were killed. Now there is a cool looking monument, cool in a communist sort of way. I thought it poignant that it was in the shadow of this monument we saw two boys about 8 years old, talking on their mobile phones.
Just near Gdansk is a place called Westerplatte, which is the site where WWII started. This was the fortification that the Germans attacked that forced Great Britain to declare war. There is another monument here too, and 71 years on there are still flowers being laid.

Not too far from Gdansk there is a large castle which was the headquarters of the Teutonic knights who ruled the whole area in the middle ages. The castle, at Malbork, was called Marienburg (the name reminds you that this land has changed hands between Polish and German peoples for quite some time). It is an impressive building, mostly intact and made of brick. It was a nice little day trip from Gdansk. On the way we stopped of at a seaside town called Sopot, where it rained the whole time we were there. It reminded me of an English seaside town that way. One thing I thought was rather odd was that you had to pay at a turnstile to get on to the jetty. Even in the rain. It was here that Tanya had the biggest stick of Candy Floss I have ever seen.
Next we are on our way to another new country for us, Lithuania.
PS the internet here is as slow as... well its really slow, so photos will be posted soon.